A nail bitingly close Poetry by Heart Year 7 House Competition!
In an event that once again proved to be nail bitingly close, only one point separated each of the top four performers of the Poetry by Heart House competition this year.
Behind the scenes of this long-established celebration of poetry, every member of Year 7 had been working towards memorising then perfecting the performance of a piece to heart; four entrants per House were selected by class teachers and so the battle began.
Eleven finalists took centre stage for this year’s event, reciting childhood favourites (like Dahl’s parody of the traditional folk tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf’ and Carroll’s masterpiece of linguistic inventiveness ‘Jabberwocky’) as well as Frost’s wonderful evocation of the difficulty of choosing, and of accepting the corollaries of choice in ‘The Road Not Taken’. The dark humour of ‘The Pig’, whose protagonist contemplates his purpose in life, proved a firm favourite, whilst Belloc’s cautionary tale of ‘Matilda’ who ‘told such Dreadful Lies’ warned us all against the dangers of deceit and the importance of honesty.
The House flags of Gawthorpe, Leighton, Rufford and Samlesbury decorated the drama studio in bright array and a mood of fierce but friendly inter-house rivalry predominated, each House eager to claim their place in the points table.
The courage, of the performers gracing the stage without notes or prompts is to be commended, each stepping outside their comfort zone with admirable proficiency, but ultimately decisions had to be made and our team of judges - Mrs. Marland, Ms. Lucien, Mr. Hayden and Mrs. Lucking –debated, discussed and disputed their preferences until the winners were declared.
Applause must be given to all who made this event the successful occasion it turned out to be.
The outcome this year was as follows:
Individual
Grace H (Leighton) 1st
Elena B (Samlesbury) and Harriett B (Samlesbury) 2nd =
Fraser H (Rufford) 3rd
House (by average score /47)
Samlesbury 35.7 (1st)
Leighton 33 (2nd)
Gawthorpe 32.7 (3rd)
Rufford 24 (4th)